Recent News and Updates - E-mail cquick@d211.org

Friday, March 21, 2008 - Manderson Invite Results

Thousands of years of pent up anger and frustration were unleashed Thursday night as the Ku Kwak's Klan stormed its way to a huge victory in the 5th Annual Manderson Invite.  Kwak took the overall title, and his fellow Klansmen won a resounding 32-50 victory over the nattily dressed Business Casual unit.  Dead Men Running showed a little life in placing third with 61 points while the Firm Titans melted under the bright lights and the pressure, finishing last with 67 points. 

Picture Updates - I created a brand new gallery of pictures taken during the race.  Check out all of the water-wading action shots!

Manderson Results - Kwak and Krew Charge to Victory

Above: Ku Kwak's Klan poses after their victorious run.

I don't have time to do a full story since I am leaving soon for the Lewis meet, but I do have full results of the race.  I'll see you guys again on Tuesday for the train trip.  Enjoy the pictures.

Ku Kwak's Klan - Team Champions with 31 points

Business Casual - 2nd place

Dead Men Running - 3rd place

Firm Titans - 4th place

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - Manderson Preview, Glenbrook Results

Glenbrook Results - I'll write an update on the meet later, but I did update the Performance Lists.  We are now up to 15 guys under 5:00 with five more at 5:05 or better.  The highlight of the night was simple: Tim Anderson won a race, running 5:37 and breaking his guy wide open with a powerful shift at about the 1000 meter mark.  After coaching Tim for four years, that was a "forever moment" for me.  I was so proud.

Manderson V

Well folks, it is that time of year again.  Welcome to the preview for the 5th Annual Manderson Invite.  This year's edition will feature four well-balanced and competitive teams, duking it out in nerdy costumes over a muddy and water-infested 2.5 mile course at Deer Grove East.  The race will feature a 75-100 meter puddle that must be run through twice along with numerous other soggy and disgusting areas that only a true CC runner can love.  The question is: which team has enough true cross country warriors to get the job done?  And can they get the job done wearing a somewhat emasculating costume?

Manderson History - For those of you wondering about past Manderson Invites, check out these preview and result pages, complete with pictures.

For anyone interested in watching, Manderson V will occur at 5:00 pm tomorrow at Deer Grove East no matter rain nor shine.  The teams:

Death Row (Captains Mat Smoody, Alex Mourousias, and Luke Kierys)

My guess is that these fools will show up dressed in some combination of hard core rapper gear and haughty prison inmate decor.  Maybe Dr. Dre can write them an anthem that will make the rest of the playas in this race fear the two freshman they took with their top picks.  Apparently the prison food and promise of an imminent demise told them to put their fate in the hands of a second-generation Bethke, a younger Kwak who can't even play the cello, and a metal head like Smith who thinks Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg are brand names for carpet cleaner.  At least they bring McPherson's audacity into their gang of homies, but one out of Tim "Meat Hands" Anderson, John "Straight Money" Pasowicz, and Kendall "No I'm Not Dating Barbie" Cox will have to step up and fill the fifth man role.  The conventional wisdom says this crew will be headed back to the slammer, eating soggy food, studying electrical current and the finest advances in lethal injection, and pondering their utter and total cross country racing demise.  It's time for that last appeal...  Odds: 10-1.

Ku Kwak's Klan (Captains Paul Kwak, Alec Bollman, and Mike Grobner)

After being rudely passed over with the top pick, Captain Kwak went out and formed a vigilante group of racist assassins who love Koreans, short Jewish kids, and winning cross country races.  The KKK has promised to don its hoodies, wrap themselves in bed sheets and bequeath vengeance on all the unfortunate souls who dare to denigrate running, cello playing, and the Korean way.  Their hopes may rest on the faulty IT band of a hobbled, yet still spirited Jolson or the squeaky old man knees and flu-ridden body of one Brian Sund, but they also have two key freshman.  Roehrborn has enough of a screw loose to go forth and take out his pseudo-Korean wrath on others while Alberti brings the spirited retribution of thousands of years of anti-Semitic sentiment to bear on his enemies.  I hear that he punches people.  All in all this mish-mosh of ethnic rage will be fronted by Blyth, who has achieved such great status that no one even remembers his first name.  His name might as well be Thunder.  This rage-filled unit may just hate its way all the way to the top of the Manderson heap.  Odds: 4-1.

Business Casual (Captains Kevin O'Brien, Colin Morlock, and Adam Bethke)

These three brainiacs pulled out their calculators and applied the following formula for Manderson success: Over-analysis + mucho mileage - acquired brain damage * attention to detail / inability to find a date = Manderson gold.  They studied...and pondered...and analyzed...and sacrificed their pathetic social lives to come up with a crew of cold, calculating men who could still look good in a hula shirt and loafers if the company ever gave them a day off.  This crew plans on dressing up Tommy Lasko and Stink Larson in business gear, but it would be easier to feed a dog its own tail with mustard and relish than it would be to get these two wild animals under wraps.  They emendated (look that up Death Row crew) their roster with a plenitude of cognitively-inclined good citizens such as Vlad and E-Rod, but we all know Vlad may be a toss-up.  He could be playing WOW, filming a documentary film on spark plugs, pontificating on a variety of subjects he barely knows about, or seeking the best bus fare home from Pennsylvania rather than getting to the line on time.  Dyla the Gorilla part two and Zach "Mercedes" Benzo will have to pick up the fifth man slack, especially if Bogdanowicz is helping his mama cash her check at the bank.  All in all the calculators say that the brains are the best bet.  Odds: 3.1415926535 to 1 (memorize it or face immediate expulsion)

Firm Titans (Captains Lewis Conley, Juan Perez, and Chano Bernardo)

Denzel Washington once told us all to Remember the Titans, but last time I checked Atlas was holding the world on his shoulders and a stinky looking vulture was eating Prometheus' liver each day.  The only thing Firm about this crew is that they would make some great money on Wall Street if all their risky investments paid off.  Unfortunately, unemployment is up, gasoline is nearing $4 a gallon, and this ship might run out of gas before it runs aground on the coast of broken dreams.  Sure, Eddie Lo could be the pick of the day with his great CC creds, but King Lewis Yang will have to run a confident race.  Even he didn't want to pick himself, though, so the real task of holding things up falls to Tirth Patel and Erich Kuerschner.  I hear that Kuersch had an elliptical workout today that magically healed his aching IT, but my final question is: can Juan find the healing touch of Hippocrates to get Stars and Baran back into working condition?  Is there even a cure for the black lung?  Will Baran be left standing at the end with a trophy in one hand and his Staples Easy button in the other?  Or will he be grasping his foot and calling for mama?  Will Colish show up with his trident and part the seas of the great lake as he takes this band of Greek heroes straight to the top of Olympus?  Or will this be one act that even Coach Colish can't pull off?  My guess is that these boys get as close to Mt. Olympus as a one-armed and one-winged man with a club foot and an attitude problem.  Odds: 15:1.

Sunday, March 16, 2008 - Pirates Win MSL Indoor Invite

For the first time since I started coaching at Palatine, we won the MSL Jim Nagel Indoor Invite.  It was a bit of a hair-raising affair that came down to the last race, but we managed to win 92-90 over a very game Wheeling team.  Even though we sat out some key contributors that could have helped us out, I was really proud of the men who stepped up and helped us get the win.  No one (except for LaRocca) competed in more than two events.  Hopefully, this meet will help us work on our depth and prime us for a huge outdoor campaign when the competition will be much tougher than it was on Saturday.

Mileage and Performance List Updates - I put up the miles for Week 6 and Week 7 as well as the updated Mileage Progression.  We have run a little bit less than a year ago, but most of that is due to the weather situation and a bit more conservative response on my part to injuries.  Cross your fingers, but we have had no major injuries yet with 45 guys.  Let's keep working hard and staying healthy.  Performance Lists are updated to reflect races run at the MSL Indoor Invite.

Highlights from our MSL Invite victory:

Sunday, March 9, 2008 - Proviso Quad, F/S MSL Updates

F/S MSL Conference Invite - Pirates Place Second Overall

This meet has diminished a little bit over the last couple of years as some of our more high profile teams have left for other meets, but 8 of the 12 teams still remained.  The competition was hot in the distance races as usual.  Hersey's Sam Zielke broke the meet record in the 800 with a pretty looking 2:04, and Mark Giannis from Buffalo Grove nearly broke Christian Escareno's 3200 record with a solo 10:07 on the 150 meter track.  Our highlights included: